Instead of going to my usual modern grocery store to buy some vegetables for lunch today, I decided to do things differently and go to the market in Palmar de Aramara.
The market is an experience: more people, more activity, more color, and more fun than a modern grocery store. It is also much hotter during the summertime because it isn’t air-conditioned like the grocery store.
A “mercado” is the kind of place people think of when they think of “real Mexico.”
I asked at the tortilla stall if I could take pictures of the machine that makes tortillas. The employees thought that asking permission to take pictures of the machinery was a strange request but they happily humored me.
A sack of corn flour is mixed with water in a big tub and then the giant dough ball is put into the hopper on the tortilla machine.
The fish is unloaded every morning and put on ice. The fish mongers will clean and prep your fish however you like.
At the fruit and vegetable stand you bring all of your purchases to the counter where they weigh everything and tell you how much it will cost. Then they send you over to the cash register and the cashier asks you, “how much?” You are on the honor system. You tell the cashier what your items cost and pay. In my case, it came to $23 pesos for some broccoli, onions and Poblano chiles .
The market in Palmar de Aramara is only one block past Sam’s Club on Prisciliano Sanchez street which is the main road going into Pitillal. Things start getting busy about 10:00am. Make the effort to visit the market. It is a great experience.
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